


Morpheus Shadow

by sevendrunkenknights



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Slow Build, not instant romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-02-26 12:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2652146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevendrunkenknights/pseuds/sevendrunkenknights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gollum wasn't the only thing following the fellowship when they left Moria. They had been followed since they left Rivendell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Gollum wasn’t the only thing following the fellowship when they left Moria. They had been followed since they left Rivendell. 

The Gods had sent a liaison to the council of Elrond, one who had stayed hidden in the shadows while the rest talked. One, who could follow silently and be trusted to not say a word to those who would go on the quest, one who could never been seen as the same thing twice. They sent the Assassin.

Chapter one.

I stayed hidden in the shadows as the council of Elrond commenced. It was the order of the Gods; do not reveal yourself to them. Only Elrond knew I was there. I intend to keep it that way. I watched as people volunteered to help the Halfling take the ring to Mordor. Two men, one Elf, one Dwarf, and a Wizard. Another Halfling rushed out behind a bush to plead his case to go with them. When he was given the okay to go, a rustle came from behind me and I transformed just before they caught sight of me. They rushed past and started to complain about not being able to go, Elrond glanced in my general direction. I changed back to my preferred form and nodded. “So be it”. Elrond said. “You shall be; The Fellowship of the Ring”. They stood there looking all majestic then one of the Halflings said “Great! So, where’ we going? 

 

Late that night, I snuck into the Hall of Fire to have a word with Elrond. But first a quick word about me.  
My name is Asan Bucklinger. I am 19, sort of. (We’ll get to that later) I am a Half-Blood. I am Half Mortal, Half Greek God. My Father is Morpheus, God of dreams. I am his Shadow. Morpheus Shadow is when he gives part of his soul to his oldest Demi-God child. It appears as a sky-blue stone set into our collar bone and houses 1/4th of his power. If Morpheus ever got really killed, The Shadow would leave it carrier and pass to him, bringing him back to almost new. Depending on how long a child has carried it, we could die from not having immortality. It isn’t really immortality, we can still be killed in battle, but we never age. Until we lose the Shadow. Then we age REALLY fast. All our years of life come rushing back to us and we die a horrible death. I have carried it for 2,564 years, that makes me 2,583. I do look good, for an older person. All the carriers share the looks of our father, White, shimmery hair, colorless eyes, that have small bands of color weaving thru them. Our gaze can kill, if we want it to. But we can always read people’s minds. A smart person feels it right away, but someone who is a little out of it won’t even know it is happening. Having so much power has its drawbacks though, every carrier has to give up something in exchange for the benefits the Shadow brings. The first carrier, Gideon, had wings, and was a great warrior. People called him the Avenging Angel. But he couldn’t read, He was killed by a group of rebels who sent him a note through a traitor in the system. The Second one was Sebastian, Who was given the gift of infinite knowledge, but couldn’t hear. He was killed when the Trojan War broke out and he didn’t hear the soldier come up behind him. The third is me. The Gods Killer, the Assassin. I can shape shift, and am one of the few who can actually kill a god, titan, monster, anything deemed ‘un-killable’. But I can’t talk, I can’t cry for help when I am trapped, I can’t divulge secrets unless I transmit them into your mind. That is why the gods made me their assassin.

Back to the actually story. Elrond approached me as I entered the hall. “Follow them as close as you can. Take any form you deem necessary. Engage people only when you have to. Reveal yourself to them only when there is no other option. They leave tomorrow. Good Luck”.


	2. Chapter One

We are now two days out of Rivendell. It was easy following them, for the first half hour. Then the stupid elf decided he ‘felt a hostile presence’. This caused the wizard to go ballistic and everyone started running as fast as they could. It is really fun watching a dwarf run. Right now they are camped out on a bunch of rocks trying to teach each other how to fight. I would offer a couple tips but they aren’t supposed to know I am tagging along. Right now I am hiding in plain sight as your average friendly garter snake on Pippins arm. You probably think that was a genius idea on my part, right? It would be…….. If he wasn’t having sword practice with Boromir, and I wasn’t on his sword arm. After the 6th bone-jarring hit, I slithered off into the grass for a little recon. In other words, I was hungry. When I was out of eye sight, I changed back into the annoying demi-god you all know and love. I found some berries and had a nice snack while I pulled out some jerky from my pack. Sitting and admiring the view, I thought I might enjoy it here more than at camp. As a child of Morpheus, I didn’t have a cabin for most of my recent time there. That changed after the Titan War, but it still was empty. Morpheus doesn’t mess around a lot, so it’s just me in there. And the fact that I could kill you with a glance put a damper on making friends. Looking up, I saw a pack of crows heading my way. That would have been fine, but the crows a conscious thoughts, human thoughts. What the heck? I grabbed my pack and ran back to the fellowship. As I ran, I activated my armor. My breast and back plate melted from the necklace I was wearing while my headband morphed into my helmet. It was all white with some black detailing on it. My helmet was also white, but it covered my whole face when I wanted it to, becoming the face of a sleeping woman with a long scar down the right side of her face. It corresponds to a scar I got when I was sent to kill a dragon terrorizing London. When I got to the camp site, everyone was already hiding. I dropped down behind a bolder in case the crows decided to attack. They circled around a few times before flying off to the south-east. Slowly the Fellowship stood up and talked about what they were going to do. “The Gap is being watched.” Gandalf exclaimed. (No, really?) “We must take the pass of Cadharas!” Cue dramatic music as everyone looks to a mountain in the distance. This is going to be fun.

Gandalf is an idiot. We have been going thru Hell frozen over for the last four days and he still thinks that this is the best way to go. Either he’s mental, (likely) or the other ways REALLY suck. The hobbits can barely move because they are so cold, The Elf is pissing everyone off with his cute trick of walking on top of the snow and Gimli is too short to do much of anything. I am keeping invisible as much as I can in this epic whiteness. But being a cat has its drawbacks. At night I sneak into the camp to stay by the fire but leave before the morning comes. 

Right now we are about halfway up the mountain. Aragon and Boromir are carrying the hobbits trying to make some kind of progress through the snow, Gandalf is forging ahead, we all gave up on helping Gimli a while back and The Stupid, Sparkly, Retarded, Blond Shakespeare Elf is just going over the snow quick as you please. It is taking all my patience not to throw a snowball at his head.   
Right now we are all stopped for some reason. I am right above Merry as a spider about to freeze all eight of my legs off.  
“There is a fell voice in the air.” The blond said.  
Gandalf stiffened. “It’s Saruman!”  
A huge chunk of rock broke off the cliff face and almost hit him as he said that.  
“He’s trying to bring down the mountain!” Said Captain Obvious, A.K.A Aragon. As he said that about half the snow came off the mountain and buried the group. I thought I came out the lucky one until a huge piece of snow (fine! It was the size of a quarter, Spider here!) Hit me right on the head and threw me right off the mountain. As I fell I changed into my natural form and tried to grab onto something. I fell for about 200 feet before I landed on a ledge while the rest of the snow fell on top of me. The crushing snow blew what little breath I had left in me as my vision faded and I lost consciousness. 

 

I woke up to see *GASP!* snow. And, Stars? How long was I out for? The only thing more important than that was: What to do now? The Fellowship was long gone by now and I was frozen. The ledge I was on had no protection from the wind and it was still a long way down. I could turn into some kind of fine feathered flying animal, but I was shaking from the cold and the shock of falling 200 feet onto a snow covered ledge only to get more snow dropped on me. I crawled over to the cliff face and curled up into a little ball. Maybe it would have been better stay at camp and work out my differences with Morpheus. But what he had done to me was unforgivable. The things he allowed to happen to me was something that I could never forget.  
(Insert pesky line break here)   
It was July of last year. Kronos was gaining strength fast and I had just gotten back from a week long bombing spree. (Did that lonely old Grandmother have to die, Asan? Yes. She did.) I was banged up myself but headed to the Big House for a war council. When I got there everyone looked up at me as I took a seat across from Travis Stoll. It was obvious something was really wrong. Silena was crying, Percy looked guilty about something, everyone else looked like someone had just died, Clarisse was fighting with Michael Yew, and Jake Mason was sitting in Beckendorf’s chair. I looked over at Chiron for an explanation. “Beckondorf”. He affirmed. “Mission gone wrong”. I nodded and grabbed the cheese whiz from Connor Stoll. “For those of you who have been gone for the past couple days”. Chiron started. “ Percy and Charles were preparing for an attack on the Princess Andromeda- Kronos’ ship- which took place earlier today out on the Atlantic. Someone tipped Kronos off that we were coming and he was ready for us. We managed to blow the boat, but Beckendorf didn’t get out”. Percy then got up and started talking about how Kronos was using a scythe charm to communicate with the spy at camp. Chiron then got up and said something that threw me for a loop. “several of the minor Gods and Goddesses have sided with Kronos for the destruction of Olympus. Some of them are: Hecate, Nike, Eris……. And……. Morpheus.” He finished not looking at me. Fast forward to the middle of the war. Morpheus had put Manhattan to sleep and I was going to find him. I knew from Percy’s dream that the army was camped out at the Foreign Legions so I was heading in that general direction. I was about a block from the sentries posted around the building when I heard a voice behind me. “You want to talk?” I turned and saw the rat himself. Morpheus was leaning against a street lamp and smiling at me. “You betrayed me”. My voice was hoarse from not being used. I can only talk when I’m around my father, so I don’t talk much. He had the grace to look ashamed.   
“I am only doing what I consider to be the best thing.”  
“And the only ‘best way’ was to turn your back on me, your family, and all things sacred? And because I host part of your soul, I think I count as your alter ego who always gets in the way and saves the day just in time for the hot guy to come up and say he was wrong and he would do anything for me. You should probably stop taking whatever meds you’re on.”  
“All true”. Morpheus agreed. “Except you won’t be getting in the way, and you won’t save the day.”  
I was about to ask what the hell he meant, But about then a dozen Scythian Dracaena came out of the alleyway and started my way.   
“Now what?” I sighed. “You do realize that I am the best swords man around and can turn into anything that floats my goat, and will easily turn these thing into dust, right?”  
In reply Morpheus raised his hand, The Monsters rushed forward as I drew my sword. But, before it cleared the scabbard, a burning pain filled me and I dropped to my knees. I tried to change into something small so I could run, but nothing happened. The last thing I saw was my father looking at me with no feeling at all on his face as the monsters converged.  
(Insert another witty line break)  
I inhaled sharply as I came back to the land of the living. I really need to stop doing that. I pushed myself away from the rock face, the half-healed scars on my back burning with the memory of getting them. Sighing, I moved to the edge of the ledge (hey! rhyming!) and jumped off, turning into a Pegasus as I fell.


	3. Chapter Two

It was late into the night by the time I found the doors of Moria. Or, what was left of the doors. The only thing left that showed the doors had been there was a worn elvish transcription on a crumbling rock that I translated with a dictionary the Elrond gave me in Rivendell ‘-Moria, Speak Friend And Enshroud’(What?) . I kicked at the pile of rock and said a stream of words a sailor wouldn’t use as pain flared up my leg.   
I climbed to the top of the pile and started excavating a way through to the other side. Heaving a rock as big as I was down the mound, I watched in satisfaction as it fell heavily into the water. Turning back around, I pulled more rocks away; making a small hole. I was so busy that I almost didn’t hear the gurgling and hissing start behind me. Almost. I drew my Sword, a Three foot long blade of Celestial Bronze called an Adder Fang because of the two poisoned points on the end of the blade that looked like snake fangs; and turned to face a……… What WAS that thing? It looked like a cross between a octopus, a squid, a kraken, Davy Jones, a Chicken, and a hippopotamus. This is one for the books. I started climbing down the rock pile to the thing. It spit foam at me as I slowly made my way down (real charmer), sort of rolling itself back down into the deeper water. As soon as my feet were planted firmly on the ground it propelled itself over to me, tentacles grabbing onto rocks and trees before throwing them at me. I ducked and rolled to my left as a boulder the size of a bus flew at me, it barely missed as it crashed into the mountain. Running forward I made it about 30 feet before a tentacle wrapped around my waist and jerked me up to its face. Facing its huge black eyes and gapping maw, I felt helpless. What could I do with just a sword? The Answer….. A lot. I plunged my sword into the pale flesh and pulled it out again as the monster let go of me. As I fell one of its tentacles came flying around and hit me in the gut, sending me shooting into the mountain. That thing did NOT just slap the daughter of Morpheus! That was enough of me showing off with my sword. I charged at the monster again. Morphing into a jet black dragon with multi colored wings as I ran. We crashed into each other in the air. Both of us clawing and grabbing at each other. I blew white hot fire into its face as the thing grabbed me around my belly and flung me into the mountain AGAIN! I could feel the mountain shudder as I collided with it craggy surface.

Gandalf P.O.V  
As we were walking down the dark paths of Moria, I could not help but feel relieved that the presence following us seemed to be gone. I knew that we had been followed since Rivendell but whatever was following us perished in the snowstorm. We were in a large hall when the silence was rent by the angry roar of the Watcher. Immediately after that the entire mountain shook with terrifying force. An even louder roar answered the first. “What’s that Gandalf?” Merry asked me. “Something has woken the Watcher.” I replied as we hurried into the next room.

 

Asan P.O.V  
The monster was dead. Its smoking form lay on the lakeside as I pulled myself away from it. My right arm was bleeding and numb. It was probably broken. Hauling myself up the rock pile I pushed myself thru the now large hole I groaned as I thudded to the ground on the other side. Pulling a flask of nectar out of my pack I took a slug and started walking down the dark roadway under the mountain. 

 

 

Darkness is the absence of light, cold is the absence of heat, painless is the absence of pain. Almost falling to your death in a gods-forsaken mine is the absence of light, heat and painlessness with a broken arm thrown in to make my day complete. cursing to inwardly, I pulled my self back onto solid rock. I had completely lost the fellowship, I had no idea where I was. The only way I was sure I was going in the right direction was the clanking of Sam's cooking pans, and that had faded hours far as I could tell, I was in a large room with part of the walkway broken off. Turning to the right, I took a hesitant step forward. My foot hit solid stone. One more step. My foot came down... and kept on going. Flailing my arms, I regained my balance and tried to get my bearings. This is stupid I thought to my self as the eminent darkness pressed in around me. Concentrating on the power of Morpheus in the dream-stone, a pure white light filled the room. The epicenter (me) was as bright as a sun, darkening the farther out it went. Looking out, I could see I was in an old mining cave with only a narrow bridge traversing the length of the room. A five foot long patch was missing from the path. Looking down at my feet, the toe of my left boot was hanging off the around, I backed up a couple of feet. Sizing up the gap, I took off running, clearing the chasm with a couple of feet to spare. Moving into the next room, Voices faintly floated to my ears on a breeze of fresh air. Dimming the light, I crept through to the next cavern. Stairs climbed up a cliff to a plateau where a fire was burning brightly. I could see the small forms of the fellowship, The miniscule Hobbits crowded around the campfire, Gandalf sitting off to the side in thought. I let the light die completely, Sinking into darkness as stealthy foot falls fell a few feet away from me. Turning, I saw the most hideous creature ever. And that's saying a lot. The thing was skin and bones, wearing nothing but a loin cloth, with about five hairs left on his over sized head. All in all, a retarded Yoda. I watched, hands moving to the throwing knife hidden in my boot, as the little toad climbed up the stairs to the fellowship untill he was about 10 feet below them on another ledge. Keeping a wary eye on the lizard, I hunkered down, Pulling a blanket from my pack I spread it out on the ground and sat down. My eyes never straying from the creature, the Fellowship, and the hypnotic flames and smoke of the fire

I woke up with a start and banged my head on a rock. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I looked up at where the Fellowship had been spending the night, the fire was out and there was no movement. Cursing myself out for having fallen asleep on the job I started up the steps towards the top.

When I got up there, I was faced with a dilemma. Three doors faced me, each going off in a different direction. Sitting down on a rock, I tried to think of the logical way out of this. Idea number one was that Janus, the god of doorways, was testing me and two of the doors were illusions. Not likely. When Janus and Hermes summoned a portal to bring me here they told me that Middle Earth had its own gods, and that it could cause a war if they found out the Greeks were meddling. Second was that Saruman had enchanted the doors here to mess with Gandalf. Maybe. The last option was that the three doors had been here since the mines were built and had no connection to espionage. That choice was really boring but probable.

I was thinking about going down the left one when a loud crashing sound echoed out of the middle doorway. And that would be them. I thought. Who else could make that kind of noise? I hauled myself to my feet and started walking to the door, when what sounded like drums resonated out of the left passage. They started out slow, and then increased in ferocity until the sound blended together into horrible music. Torches appeared around the corner of the tunnel, high pitched yelping and howls drifted in the stale air. I turned and dove behind a rock as the first Goblins poured out of the left tunnel and galloped into the middle. The hoard kept coming, until the middle tunnel was congested with the bodies of underworld scum. A giant troll, chained, moaning, and twenty feet tall was guided thru and disappeared. After an age and a day, it looked like the ranks had finally passed. I got up and walked over to the middle tunnel again.

Behind me I heard what sounded like a twisted birdcall; I turned and saw a slacker from the Goblin army. Short, fat, and breathing heavily he charged at me as fast as his little legs would allow. I pulled my knife out of my boot and threw it at him. It hit him squarely in the head and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. I crossed over and pulled the blade out. Wrinkling my nose at the green blood that dripped off it, I wiped it off on his tunic and started down the path again.

Walking in the dark is quite therapeutic. It gives me quality time to reflect on life. The first time that I returned to camp since World War Two, And Clarisse tried to dunk me in the toilet. Let's just say that turning into a Fire Drake (in self-defense) is not the best way to make friends. But she never tried to do that to me again!

After the War was over, the camp started building other cabins and I got to design the Morpheus Cabin. It turned out super cool, with shimmering walls and it tuned into whatever kind of hous- I was thrown back into reality as I slammed into a warty green troll bottom. I bounced back two feet and landed on my back, hard. My arm now hurt even more and I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming. The Troll didn't move, just kept swinging his club as Orcs battered on an old wooden door. Arrows were shooting out of holes so I had a pretty good guess of who was on the other side. Seeing as no one was paying attention to me, I drew my sword as quietly as possible and rammed it into the troll up to the hilt. The monster didn't even notice that his bottom half was slowly dissolving into dust. I moved on to the line of Goblins, diving each a small nick on the back of the neck, so that they wouldn't explode the way monsters usually do when they are dealt deadly blows. I was working my way to the last troll when the Orcs made it thru the door and all of the monsters poured into the room like water. Losing all of my ninja-like moves, I started hacking at everything in arms reach. Making my way to the door, I sliced a Goblin in half and leapt into the room. I almost landed on top of Legolas. He didn't take to kindly to that, Turning lightning fast and nocking an arrow at my head.


	4. Chapter Three

had to cross my eyes to see the arrow head and I am fairly sure that I looked like a complete fool. "Who are you?" Legolas demanded, Glaring at me like the ugliest Orc in the world. I know I haven't had a shower in weeks but did I really look that bad? A staff appeared on the top of the arrow head, pushing it down. Gandalf peered at me thru his bushy eyebrows as he said "Legolas, I do not believe she is the correct person to use your arrows on. I have been waiting for her to show herself. She has followed us since we left Rivendell. I will explain the rest later." My helmet completely covered my face so I had no idea how he knew I was a woman, then I thought Duh, My armor was form fitting in a few places and only an idiot would miss that. "I will leave you to choose if you are going to help us or not". Gandalf said, "But I would suggest that you decide quickly". I smirked under the face plate of my helmet and thrust my sword under Gandalf's arm, skewering a short Goblin thru the head. G-man looked behind him and nodded, then went and rejoined the fight. I skipped around the Elf and threw myself into a knot of ugly-ass beasties that were surrounding Merry and Pippin, chopping and dicing them into Monster salad with red island dressing (sorry for the bad mental image). The two Hobbits looked me up and down then Pippin looked over at Merry and said "Who do you think that guy is?" Hobbits are not the brightest bananas in the bunch. (Bananas are good) I wanted to tell them off, but at that moment a roar resonated in the hall; bouncing off the stone pillars and making my eardrums throb. The cave troll had arrived. Merry and Pippins faces went slack as I turned to see the newest challenge. The troll was 30ft tall, easy, with a green-grey hide that was covered with warts and a chain was wrapped around its neck, the end of it trailing on the ground. Holy crap that thing was huge. No matter, I had fought bigger. Although having a broken arm complicated matters a bit. Legolas fired some arrows at the creatures back, Boromir and  
Aragorn both tried hacking the monster to pieces with their swords, the Hobbits all just tried to stay out of the big peoples' way. The troll just brushed off the arrows and pushed the swords away and kept going straight for Frodo. I ran at the troll, but only made it half way there before a group of goblins intercepted me and blocked my path. Aragorn swept in front of Frodo in a feeble attempt to save him from the creature. The troll swatted him aside, flinging the ranger against a column and thrust his spear into Frodo's gut. The hobbit stumbled, gasping for breath, and slumped to the floor as the remaining members of the fellowship started attacking the troll. Gimli hacked at is ankles, Boromir slashed at its wart covered hip. Legolas killed the beast by firing two arrows directly into its mouth. When the dust had settled we ran over to Aragorn and Frodo, not expecting Frodo to still be breathing. "It's all right" He gasped. "I'm not hurt".

Aragorn was astounded. "That spear could have killed a wild boar!"

"I think there might be more to this hobbit than meets the eye". Gandalf said with a knowing look in his eye. Frodo looked almost scared as he grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it down, revealing something glittering underneath. "Mithril". Gimli whispered, as they all reached out to touch the shimmery fabric. Creepy. Boromir pulled the Hobbit to his feet as we started moving to the smaller door. "This way should lead us out of the mines." Gandalf said, ushering us thru it. Silence fell, then it started.

Drums.

Drums in the deep.

The goblins left alive all turned around and started crawling and hopping over each other in a rush to get out the main door. I felt a cold enter my stomach and turned to Gandalf and started pushing him through the door. He ignored me and started talking to Aragorn. "Aragorn, take the others to the bridge. I will find out what is happening." The wizard started across the room, leaving me no choice in the matter. I pushed into his mind, breaking down his barriers and communicated to him. Gandalf we have to go. Something is coming, and it's big. He stopped, turning to face me. "What did you say?"

"We said nothing Gandalf" Legolas replied, confused. The old man just kept looking at me. I took off my face plate so he could see me. His eyes widened as he saw my white eyes and hair. Please. Trust me and leave. He took a step toward me then stopped. Light had begun to shine from the entrance. Light from a very large fire. Gandalf took one look at it then turned back to us. "Run!" He cried "This foe is beyond any of you!"

 

 

Boromir and Aragorn started herding the Hobbits and Gimli down the side passage as Gandalf shut the doors and began murmuring spells over it. He had just begun a second spell when something huge slammed against it from the other side. Gandalf stumbled back, gasping from the affect of the failed spell. While the wizard tried to get his breath back I stepped up to the door and placed my hand on it. The mind of the creature seeped into my own. And I thought every Thought that it did. Every memory and desire that had ever crossed its sick, twisted mind. I looked for compassion, and found only burning rage. I could feel him searching me as well. I felt him touch every corner of my mind and I showed him all the form I could become. All of the wars that I had fought in. And close to three thousand years of professional assassinations. I showed him all of it. And when he had seen all there was, he laughed. I placed my hand in front of the door and erected a mental barrier between us. It would hopefully hold him for a few minutes. "Come on Gandalf" I grabbed him arm and helped him down the steps. He reached around and grabbed my other arm I fought the urge to scream. "What are you?" He asked as we came upon the fellowship. "My name is Asan Bucklinger. I will explain more later".

Our small band of travelers raced down hundreds of flights of stairs and through countless passages. Sometimes we could hear the screams and yell of goblins behind us, other times we ran in complete silence. Down, across, down again, and suddenly there were no more stairs.

Boromir slid to a stop, skidding on pebbles and was about to fall when Aragorn wrapped an arm around his chest and pulled him back. There was about a four-foot gap in the stairway heading down to the bottom floor. Easy pickings for a trained ninja warrior like me. Legolas leapt like a fluffy fairy over the pit of doom and gestured to Gandalf to follow. The wizard jumped over with room to spare. Sam followed right after, jumping surprisingly well for a little guy. Gimli followed, after gallantly declining help from Aragorn, saying "Nobody tosses a dwarf". Well nobody jumps down into fire and hell to save one either kiddo. And that was almost the end of our mule headed, pint-sized friend. His toes were the only part of his anatomy that were touching the stone on the other side. He was about to go over where Legolas leapt forward and grabbed a handful of his beard. "NOT THE BEARD!" The Dwarf shrieked as blondey pulled him to safety. Boromir grabbed Merry and Pippin, clutching them tight to his sides as he jumped, carrying all of them to safety. Sorta, if you didn't count the arrows flying at us from random holes in the cliff wall. Frodo, Aragorn and Myself were the only ones left on this side. The Ranger grabbed Frodo and was about to jump when the stone beneath my feet cracked and then vanished into the fire below. I threw myself backward as Aragorn and the Hobbit surf boarded the now free-standing pillar to the other side as it fell. And I thought I was the cool one.

The gap was now over twenty feet in length. Too far for a mortal to jump, keyword being mortal. "Asan". Gandalf shouted. "there should be another stair on the lower level. We will meet you there". "no time for that. Just backup". I ran back to the top of the steps to get a head start. This was going to require strength, speed, and a well thought out math-metical deduction. I would have to get by on two out of three. I took off running, and when my foot hit the last step, I shifted. Turning into a lion and using my strengthened muscles to leap the gap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is really appreciated, and help remind me to update seeing as i'm working a lot and keep forgetting to update.


	5. Chapter four, I guess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, almost out of Moria. I am going to try to update regularly, sorta, at least once a month. It depends on how much shit is going on with my life.

Did you know that a lion can leap farther than your average house? This is due to strong leg muscles and the fact that most houses can’t jump.  
My jump carried me across the gap easily. The jump was so majestically awesome that  
I shot over the head of the of the others and landed gracefully on my bad arm/paw/leg (whatever) Because of my amazing landing it seemed only prudent to do a 28 point roll down to the next landing. Rolling down the very painful steps, I turned back to my human form and tried to stop my little joyride. My fingers grasped an indent in the stone and brought me to a stop. The better part of my legs were hanging off the edge of the walkway and there was blood oozing from the pointer finger of my right hand where-oh god. I tore a nail.- Hey, laugh all you want, but those suckers hurt when they are forcibly removed. Aragorn ran down the steps and grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling me back to solid ground. Panting, I pushed myself up onto my knees and grabbed the Ranger’s pro-offered arm and got back on my feet.  
“Are you alright?” He asked. I nodded then looked up at Gandalf  
“Let’s go”.  
He inclined his head and once again began leading the way down to the lower levels. Down, down, down, right, down again, (hey look at that!) more down. The stairs finally ended and we came out into a large hall lined with columns that was thankfully deserted. The Fellowship plus one stopped to regroup and Aragorn walked over and lightly took my arm.  
“How long has this been broken?” He asked, pressing gently on the purple and green skin between my shoulder guard and vambrace.  
“Since I fell off a rock pile after I killed that octopus on steroids”. If he noticed that my lips didn’t move and that my voice was mainly inside his skull, he didn’t show it. He simply grabbed my hand and began unbuckling my armguard when a strange noise broke the relative silence.  
It sounded like a thousand cockroaches crawling across the ceiling. All around us the ground seemed to explode as goblins crawled up through the cracks and down the pillars from the ceiling. To put it in simple terms, it was sickening. There were millions of the little monsters and in about thirty seconds we were surrounded. “Protect the Hobbits” Boromir yelled and the smallest members were pushed into the center and the rest of us closed ranks around them. I pulled my arm away from Aragorn and tried to lace the vambrace back up again with one hand. There was a reason I hadn’t take it off before. All around us the goblins were hissing and spitting as they started to inch closer. I was still fumbling with the leather straps as a rather short gobbling with luminous yellow eyes jumped at me and sank his teeth into boiled leather. I swung my sword in a sloppy arch as pain shot from my arm and my brain went temporarily went white. My vision cleared to see that I had completely missed the one that was sampling the goods, but hit the two next to it. Figures. An axe flew past my ear and embedded itself in the goblin attached to my arm. I pulled my hand free and grabbed the handle of the axe. Turning, I handed it back to Gimli with a nod. I shifted my sword to my left hand a dropped into a crouch, ready to start another round.  
A deep hum sounded from the back hall, steadily growing to a roar. Light from a fire grew in the darkness. All around us, the goblins started chattering and began to scramble away. In a matter of seconds, we were alone. “Gandalf” Pippin asked “What is that?” 

“That is something I do not know, But it is something that none of us should hope to ever meet again.” Gandalf said. His brow furrowed and weary. “But we have no more time to delay! We make for the bridge of Khazad-Dûm.”   
Turning, he led the way once more. through narrow passages and halls bearing the wreckages of war. When we came to a low archway Gandalf looked out into the adjacent hall for a moment before turning back around speaking to the company.   
“There is some new devilry here.” He said. “Devised for our welcome no doubt. But I know now where we are: we have reached the first deep, the level immediately below the gates. The gates are near, not more than a quarter of a mile. Across the bridge, up a broad stair, through the first hall and then out. But come and look!” 

As one our ragtag group of travelers leaned out and looked at one of the largest rooms I had ever seen. great pillars stretched up into darkness, twisting like trees before being swallowed up in the gloom. In the floor, a great fissure had opened, spewing fire and smoke.  
I’m sure that if we had had the chance to view ourselves from the front, we would be one of the most hilarious images most would have set their eyes on. One old man in a dress and ridiculous hat, one male L'oreal model, three commandos from the ren-fair of nightmares, and five children look-alikes, one of them with a beard. Yep, we are the Guardians of the Galaxy. Team Free Will/Sauron sucks. Everyones favorite boy band + one female. 

 

The chances are, we are all going to die.

 

“If we had come from the main halls we would have been trapped here” Gandalf explained. “Let us hope that fire now stands between us and pursuit.”   
As he said that, the beat of drums began to drift towards us again. And not the good kind of drumming, like the bassline to Young Volcanoes. This was just doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom. really bland, nothing catchy.   
“Now we must run.” Said Gandalf. “If the sun is still shining we may yet escape.”

So we bolted.

**Author's Note:**

> This will take awhile for me to finish, so please hang with me.


End file.
